The invention concerns a crop divider, provided at a lateral end of a transversely extending harvesting header or gatherer for dividing the crop to be gathered from the standing crop, and more particularly, a means of mounting such a divider.
Crop dividers are well known and are used on a variety of harvesting machines. They are frequently used, for example, on cutterbar type harvesting platforms, the pointed ends of the dividers extending forwardly of the opposite ends of the cutterbar. Typically, dividers are pivotably mounted so that they are free to swing in a vertical arc in a fore-and-aft plane about a fixed single pivot point, to follow the contour of the ground. Some dividers are partially counter-balanced, for example, by springs.
In typical operation, with the harvester gatherer or platform at operating height above the ground, the divider rides on the ground to guide or divide the crop into the gatherer, pivoting up and down to follow variations in the ground surface. Typically, the operating height of the harvester gatherer or platform is vertically adjustable, the operator setting the height according to crop or harvesting conditions. The angle of inclination of the divider in a fore-and-aft plane when operating in contact with the ground will, of course, vary and depend entirely on the operating height of the platform. When the crop divider is carried on a simple single pivot, the range of divider angle of inclination or attitude thus defined, may significantly exceed an optimum range for efficient operation of the divider or divider point in dividing and lifting crop.